New Year, New Traditions
by quokka
Summary: Tony and Ziva miss the New Years kiss, but find a way to make up for it. Tiva fluff.


**A/N** : I guess I'm addicted to writing now ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Tony and Ziva miss the New Years kiss, but find a way to make up for it. (Inspired by the prompt; Imagine Character A and B, missing the ball drop, and their first kiss of the New Year, because they were either A: sleep, or B: too deep into making out to notice anything.)

* * *

The light filtering through the curtains was the first thing Ziva noticed. The warm body she was leaning against, the second. She blinked a few times, sat up straight, stretched her neck, and turned off the TV.

She grimaced when she noticed Tony's head drooped backwards awkwardly. That was going to hurt when he woke up. Maybe she should wake him up now, prevent worse.

Ziva stood up and leaned over him, placing a hand on his cheek. "Tony, wake up."

He inhaled with an unattractive snort. A light pat on his cheek as she said his name again did the trick, though.

Tony blinked at her slowly, a smile forming on his lips. The smile faded as soon as he lifted his head and groaned.

Ziva patted his cheek again and moved around the couch to stand behind him. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she gently worked her fingers up and down his neck and shoulders to ease away the pain.

"That feels so much better," he said gratefully a few moments later. She smiled and focused on working out the remaining knots.

They hadn't gotten much sleep the past two weeks. If Abby hadn't decorated her lab, Christmas might have passed them by completely. The mistletoe had been a nice touch, she thought as her fingers slipped into Tony's hairline.

Tony sighed softly, his eyes still closed, then asked, "What time is it?"

"6 AM."

He stood up so abruptly, Ziva's hand lingered in the air for a second.

"We slept through it? I can't believe we missed it." He scrubbed a hand over his face.

Ziva looked at him questioningly, wondering what they had missed. Apart from Christmas—which had put Tony in a bad mood—and the first day of Hanukkah—which had put her in a bad mood. A combination which had led to both of them bickering all day on the 25th, until they found themselves in an empty lab, and realized taking it out on each other wasn't helping anyone. The mistletoe on the other hand, had been very helpful, she thought, and felt an excited flutter in her belly.

"The ball drop, Ziva." He walked around the couch and stopped in front of her. "We missed our New Years kiss."

She raised an eyebrow at his use of the word our.

"Well, I just assumed…when you invited me to stay over last night." He bit his bottom lip as his gaze flicked to her mouth and back.

"Tony, you dozed off when I was getting out of the car after dropping me off. I wasn't going to let you drive home like that."

"Right."

His disappointment was palpable, and the feelings she had been stomping down all week reappeared. She stepped closer.

"So, you expected a New Years kiss?" She looked up at him with a sweet smile.

He shrugged and grinned. "It's tradition."

"You seem to be all about traditions as long as they involve kissing."

The sparkle in his eyes and slow smile told her he was remembering that kiss in Abby's lab too.

Tony wet his lips. "I thought after what happened on Christmas, we could…"

"Do that again?"

She honestly hadn't meant for her voice to sound so husky. But judging by his darkening eyes, Tony liked where this was going.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, keeping his hand there, his thumb lightly stroking her cheek.

"Happy New Year, Tony," she murmured and leaned in to kiss him.

Tony cradled her head and held her close as his lips caressed hers.

"It is now," he said as their lips parted and he touched his forehead to hers.

Tony nuzzled her face and she tried to keep her pulse in check, failing miserably. Their mistletoe kiss hadn't left her too distracted, but it had opened her eyes. And perhaps, on this first day of a brand new year, she was ready to open her heart, as well.

Placing an arm around his shoulder, she looked up at him through her eyelashes. "So, how many of your traditions require kissing?"

"There's Valentine's Day," he said as he placed an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his body.

Ziva wrinkled her nose. "That's almost two months from now."

Tony chuckled and rubbed her nose with his. "Maybe we should make up some of our own traditions? Daily ones?"

She kissed his bottom lip. "We will have to keep them out of the office."

"I'm fine with that," he said and moved his lips over hers again, slowly. He broke the kiss without pulling back, his lips grazing hers when he said, "As long as that means we celebrate twice as hard at home."

Her laughter was muffled when Tony deepened their next kiss, and Ziva thought the year couldn't have started any better than this.


End file.
